Means for and methods of loading irregularly shaped objects into automatic packaging machines

ABSTRACT

A portable loader may be brought up to and selectively positioned to deliver product into mandrels carried by an automatic packaging machine. The loader may receive product on an asynchronous and on-demand basis and delivers product on a time basis coordinated with operation of the automatic packaging machine. The loader has two bins which are opened and closed in sequence to receive and deliver product with a buffer time storage in a second of the two bins in order to accommodate the timing of the packaging machine. The loader handles pouches and similarly irregularly shaped product, having a geometry which may vary at random. The pouches are gently shaped to fit into a box as they are transferred from a source of product into a loading position of the packaging machine.

This is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 07/762,497, filed Sep. 19,1991 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,610); which was a continuation-in-part ofSer. No. 07/508,269, filed Apr. 11, 1990 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,573)which in turn was a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 07/464,162 filedJan. 12, 1990, now abandoned.

This invention relates to automatic packaging machines and moreparticularly to "Smart Loaders" especially for loading irregularlyshaped products into boxes or other containers carried by the automaticpackaging machine. Examples of irregularly shaped products which thisinvention handles are bags of potato chips, pouches filled with granularmatter (sugar or flour, for example), bags of small candy pieces,tablets, nuts and the like. Many other examples will readily occur tothose who are skilled in the art. The loader must also be adapted toaccept a product in almost any other geometric configuration which mayoccur, such as uniformly shaped boxes. Accordingly, the term "pouch" isused herein to mean any of these and similar objects, boxes or the like.

Another problem is that the layout of associated automatic packagingequipment already in position on a factory floor may present differentdemands upon the loader. Sometimes, the inflow of pouched product is atright angles to the flow of empty cartons on a box conveyor. Othertimes, the inflow of product may be parallel to the flow of emptycartons on the conveyor. Likewise, the loader may be positioned at anyof many different possible locations along the length of and relative tothe automatic packaging machine. Thus, it is desirable for a pouchloader to be portable so that it may be moved from location to location.

Yet another problem is found in a large packaging installation wheredifferent machines may load different kinds of products at differenttimes. Thus, for example, at one time, the loader may be used with amachine which handles one large pouch at a time and, at another time,with another machine which handles many small pouches may at anothertime.

Still another problem relates to an interaction between machines. Forexample, one machine may be adapted to detect the presence or absence ofan empty box on a conveyor and then deposit or withhold the deposit of aproduct into the box so that no attempt will be made to load a productinto a non-existent box. If so, the loader should start and stop tomatch the deposit or non-deposit of the product in the box. In anotherexample, it may be desirable to load different numbers of pouches in abox. Thus, for example, at one time, a single bag of brown sugar wouldbe loaded in a single box; or, at another time, perhaps seven to tenpouches of dehydrated soup may be loaded into a single box. In yetanother example, perhaps a hundred tea bags may be loaded into box.Thus, the loader should be programmed to put any suitable number ofproducts in a single box.

Yet another problem relates to the time cycle of an automatic packagingmachine which operates on a precisely synchronized basis, while productis delivered asynchronously to a loader in an "on-demand" basis so thatthe loader must adjust a sporadic and random receipt of product with aclosely synchronized delivery of product.

Hence, the loader is not faced with the relatively simple problem ofhandling rectangular boxes which are always approximately the same sizeand shape, delivered in a neat and orderly manner.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a portable pouchloader which may be brought up to any suitable machine and then adjustedto perform a specific loading function at that machine. Here an objectis to provide an adjustable count loader which may load either singlepouches or any suitable number of pouches into a box.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an adaptable loaderwhich may fit into the time format of programmed operations of manydifferent machines and function as if it were part of the originaldesign of that machine. Here an object is to provide a time bufferstorage to coordinate a random asynchronous receipt of product with asynchronized delivery of product.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a pouch loader ofthe described type which may be quickly and easily set up responsive torelatively simple adjustments, as distinguished from many prior art setups which require a considerable effort to be sure that the set up iscorrect for driving a machine through an entire load cycle. In thisconnection, a further object is to avoid the need for numeric controlswhich would require an operator to have special training and skillssimilar to those of a computer terminal operator.

A further object of the invention is to be gentle with the unstablegeometry of pouches, preconditioning them into a more uniform size,shape, and alignment during loading. Here an object is to avoid damagingproduct by roughly handling the pouches during loading.

In keeping with an aspect of this invention, these and other objects areaccomplished by a portable conveyor mounted on a stand to be moved up toan automatic packaging machine. The conveyor moves pouches into a firstand upper bin with sides which are laterally adjustable to more or lessloosely confine the pouch, which tends to align it and precondition itsposition prior to loading into a carton. Then a pair of blades formingthe bottom of the bin open to allow the pouch to fall through to asecond and lower bin. The two bins may be programmed in any suitablemanner to accumulate one or more pouches to be packaged in a single box.The blades forming bottoms of the bins open to drop the pouch or anaccumulated number of pouches into a mandrel which is part of theautomatic packaging machine. That mandrel closes its sides to shape thepouch prior to its insertion into a box. The bins asynchronously receivethe pouches from any suitable source, store them to provide a buffertime period, and then deliver them to the mandrels in synchronism withthe automatic packaging machine work cycle.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the attacheddrawings, wherein;

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the inventive loader and an exemplaryautomatic packaging machine adapted to use the inventive loader;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary view of a portion of a conveyor and the inventivepouch loader;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of two bins used in connection with theloader of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of exemplary parts of one of the bins, theremaining parts being duplicates of the parts which are shown here;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the driving equipment at the rear of thetwo bins, which is helpful for explaining how it is operated;

FIG. 6 is a side elevation view of the two bins taken along line 6--6 ofFIG. 7;

FIG. 7 is a front elevation of the two bins, with a part of a frontmounting plate broken away on the left side to reveal parts behind thefront mounting plate for activating the blades;

FIG. 8 is a top plan view of the two bins, taken along line 8--8 of FIG.7;

FIG. 9 illustrates a problem sometimes encountered when loading pouchedmaterials;

FIG. 10 is the same view as shown in FIG. 9, except that the tray ismade wider to solve the problem of misaligned pouches as shown in FIG.9;

FIG. 11 is an exploded view of a mandrel which receives and shapes apouch; and

FIG. 11A shows a cam track for guiding a cam follower shown in FIG. 11;

FIGS. 12A-12F are six stop motion views showing an exemplary sequence ofsystem operations which is the loader's work cycle.

FIGS. 9-11 were taken from parent application Ser. No. 508,269 filedApr. 11, 1990.

FIG. 1 includes a conveyor 20 which extends beyond the broken line 24 toany suitable automatic packaging machine 22. The conveyor 20 carries aplurality of mandrels, such as 26, for receiving the pouches andcarrying them up stream (Direction A) to-an awaiting carton or box. Byway of example, a mandrel 28 is here shown as so carrying pouch 30.

The inventive automatic loader includes a first or pouch conveyor member32 and a second or control member 34 which includes a two bin loadingdevice 36. Members 32, 34 are portable and may be moved in any suitablemanner to any suitable locations and used there in connection with anysuitable automatic packaging machine. The only requirement is that theconveyor 32 is positioned to drop product into a bin on member 34 andthat the bin is positioned to drop product into a suitable receptacle inthe automatic packaging machine. The products are asynchronouslyreceived by conveyor 32 and are delivered in synchronism with conveyor20, with a buffer time storage in bins 36 to coordinate with theautomatic packaging machine time base. Beyond this it is irrelevantwhether the inventive loader and packaging machine are aligned one wayor another or whether the two loader parts 32, 34 are on the same oropposite sides of mandrel conveyor 20.

The conveyor member 32 is self-powered to drive a conveyor belt 46.Sensors 38, 40 are any suitable devices, such as a light and photo cellcombination, to stop the conveyor belt 46 and a pouch 42 before it isdelivered or to start it to be delivered to the bins in member 34. Theequipment which deposits pouches 42, 44 on the conveyor belt 46 is notshown. Any suitable means may so deposit the pouches; or, they may bemanually loaded onto conveyor 46. Either way, the source of pouches mayoperate on any suitable time basis including in a random andasynchronous manner. Thus, the term "asynchronous" is used herein afterto mean any suitable timing at which pouches are deposited on conveyor46.

The control member 34 of the inventive loader includes a microprocessor48 which may be programmed to command the loader to perform any suitablefunction. The automatic packaging machine will deliver signals which areindicative of its mode of operations. For example, automatic packagingmachines conventionally include many sensors which detect conditionssuch as the presence or absence of a box, or other conditions, having aneffect upon the delivery of a product to a box. The microprocessor maybe programmed to advance conveyor 46 or to unload the bins only if andwhen a product should be delivered to the box. Moreover, the bins may beprogrammed to count and deliver one or more pouches to each mandrel.Suitable microprocessor programs may eliminate sensors 38, 40 by relyingupon command signals received from elsewhere in the automatic packagingmachine by counting down to stop or start the loader conveyor 46. Thus,the microprocessor controls the flow of product to coordinate anasynchronous receipt of product with a synchronous delivery of product.

FIGS. 2, 3 are larger scale drawings taken from FIG. 1, showing theupper and lower bins 50, 52, respectively, that are used for deliveringthe pouches from conveyor 46 to the mandrels 26 on the automaticpackaging machine conveyor 20 with buffer time storage inbetween. Eachbin is defined by two vertical adjustable side plates 54, 56; 58, 60 andby two horizontal bottom blades 62, 64; 66, 68. These plates and bladesare arranged to form two vertically aligned bins 50, 52. The side plates54-60 are, respectively, adjustably mounted on slide rods 70-76, forreciprocal motion. By turning knobs 78-84, the side plates 54-60 may bemoved back and forth in the directions B-I, respectively, to make thebin as wide or as narrow as required to prealign and deliver the productpouches.

Each of the slide rods 70-76 has an associated chart or scale 86 whichvisibly indicates the positions of the side plates to facilitate asetting of the widths of the bins 50, 52. This way, a user may set themachine to accomplish any suitable pouch alignment without necessarilyhaving to experiment, as by inching the machine through a work cycle.

The operation is that conveyor 46 drops a pouch into the upper bin 50where it rests on closed blades 62, 64. Then, blades 62, 64 are firstmoved in directions B, E and then returned in directions C, D in orderto drop the pouch into lower bin 52 wherein it rests on closed blades66, 68. This process is repeated any suitable number of times which havebeen programmed into the microprocessor in order to accumulate thenumber of pouches that are to be placed in a single box. After one or aselected number of pouches have been delivered, the bottom blades 66, 68move in the directions F, I and then return in the directions G, H inorder to drop the pouch or collected pouches into the underlying mandrel26. The invention provides great flexibility so that a plurality ofpouches may be accumulated in either bin.

Among other things, the two bins provide a time buffer storage. Thepouches 42 are dropped into the upper bin 50 on an asynchronous timescale which matches the timing of equipment for supplying the pouches ora random delivery, as when pouches simply fall out of a bin and onto theconveyor 46. The pouches on conveyor 46 drop off the end of conveyorbelt 46 (FIG. 1) on demand. The pouches 42 are dropped from the lowerbin 52 and into mandrel 26 on a time scale which matches the timing ofconveyor 20. Thus, within reason, it is not necessary to closelycoordinate the timing of pouch delivery by a source of pouches fed intothe loader 32, 34 and of the automatic packaging machine 22.

The equipment for controlling the operation of the blades 62-64 willbecome more apparent from a study of FIGS. 4-8. FIG. 4 is an explodedview which shows a single side plate 56, one bin floor blade 64, and theequipment for moving them. The remaining parts required to provide theother side plates, floor blades, and moving equipment are duplicates ofthe parts shown in FIG. 4.

The side bin plate 56 has an attached second plate 88 which gives avertical stability. The slide rods 72 pass through a slide block 90attached to a front mounting plate 92 at the screw holes 94. Two sliderods 96, 98 slide through block 90 and are attached to plate 56 andplate 88. Knob 80 turns a feed screw 100 threaded through block 90 inorder to move the side plate 56 of the bin in directions D, E to alocation indicated by a scale or chart 86 (FIGS. 2, 3).

A guide track 102 (FIG. 4) is attached to the back of the front mountingplate 92. A preferably nylon runner 104 is positioned in the track 102to move back and forth in directions D, E. Mounted on and moving withthe runner 104 are two carrier blocks 106, 108 which are bolted to thebottom bin plate 64, which projects through slot 65 in mounting plate92. Thus, plate 64 moves back and forth in directions D, E as thecarrier blocks 106, 108 slide on runner 104.

A plate 110 is secured between carrier blocks 106, 108 and bottom binplate 64. A bearing shaft 112 is an integral part of the plate 110. Link114 extends between the bearing shaft 112 and an eccentric crank arm orwheel 116 in order to convert the rotary wheel 116 motion into thelinear runner 104-106 motion. The crank arm or wheel 116 is mounted on adrive shaft 118 supported by bearing 120 affixed to a back mountingplate 122. A suitable collar or nut 124 is affixed on shaft 118 to holdit in place.

Suitable spacers 126 secure front and back mounting plates 92, 122 in aspaced, parallel relationship. On the back of the back mounting plate122 (FIG. 5), the shaft 128 (similar to shaft 118) includes two pulleywheels 129, 130, each of which preferably has teeth engaging the teethon timing or drive belts 132, 134, respectively. Any suitable motor 136turns a driving pulley 138 which causes pulley 130, and therefore, driveshaft 128, to turn far enough through an arcuate rotation required toopen and close the bottom bin plates 62. The drive shaft 118 controlsthe other bottom bin plate 64 via pulley 129, timing belt 134, pulley124, and shaft 118. In a similar manner, motor 142 controls the bottomplates 66, 68 of lower bin 52 via timing belts 144, 146 and drive shafts148, 150.

FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate one example of an adjustable mandrel which maybe used to receive and package the irregularly shaped pouches.

The product in the mandrel tray 150 includes, by way of example, threeindividually wrapped tubes 152, 154, 156 of soda crackers. Owing to thenature of the product, the three tubes do not have a closely controlledcross-section. The crackers may be misaligned so that each tube is, forexample, an eighth of an inch wider than it should be, thus making anaccumulated three-eighths of an inch of excess width. Also, dependingupon where the misaligned crackers are located, there might be a muchgreater than normal width. The sides of the tubes may be ratherirregular so that the same three tubes would not always fit together inthe same way. This is shown in FIG. 9, where the tube of crackers 156does not fit down and into mandrel tray 150. Downstream in the automaticpackaging system, the out of position tube 156 may cause the system tojam.

It will be observed that, in FIG. 9, there is a substantial overlap 158of the bottoms of mandrel tray sides 157, 159, which means that the trayis narrow so that the three tubes 152-156 of crackers must fit almostperfectly if they are to rest in side by side positions.

In FIG. 10, the tray 150 has been made much wider. Note the smalloverlap at 158 of the bottoms of the two tray sides 157, 159. Thus,there is not enough space within the tray 150 to receive the tubes152-156 of crackers in a side by side relationship with a substantialspace 160, 162 between them. As the tray moves from a loading positionto a packaging position and becomes more narrow, the sides 157, 159 maymove together to take up the space 160, 162 and make the tubes 152, 156fit into a box as the tray 20.

FIG. 11 is an exploded view of the mandrel tray. The mandrel tray 150 iscomprised of two sheet metal side members 157, 159 (with a generally"L-shaped" cross-section) which slidingly fit over each other in thebottom region. Two bars 168, 170 are attached to the bottoms of trayhalves 157, 159 to provide anchor points and, also, to provide strengthand rigidity to the trays. A pair of guide rails 172, 174 are held in aspaced parallel relationship by a support bar 176. Four nylon bearingblocks 178-184 are mounted to slide along the rails 172, 174. The sidebars 168, 170 are mounted on the nylon bearing blocks 178-184 so thatthey may slide back and forth in directions J, K.

An eccentric crank or rotary member 186 is mounted to rotate in a spacewhich is always at the center of the tray, regardless of its width.Pivotally mounted on and extending between rotary member 186 and sidebars 168, 170 are two lever arms 188, 190. When the rotary member 186turns one way (Direction L), the sides 157, 159 of the tray are pulledin by lever arms 188, 190 to reduce the tray width. When the rotarymember 186 turns in an opposite direction (Direction M) the lever arms188, 190 push out the sides 157, 159 of the tray and make it wider.

The support bar 176 has a journal 192 into which bearing 194 and an axle196 may fit in order to rotatably support the rotary member 186. Rotarymember 186 is fixed to the upper end of axle 196. On the opposite orlower end of the axle 196 is fixed a cam plate 198. A cam followerroller 200 has an axle that fits into a hole 202 in the bottom of camplate 198. The ends of side bars 168, 170 are mounted on four nylonbearing blocks 178-184 which fit over rails 172, 174. Therefore, as thecam follower 200 turns rotary member 186, the lever arms 188, 190 move,the tray side members 157, 159 slide back and forth on the rails 172,174.

A pair of conveyor chains 204, 206 are, broadly speaking, about the sameas conveyor 20 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,751. They carry the mandrel 150formed by the tray sides 157, 159 along a predetermined path representedby arrow N. A plate 208 extends between conveyor chains 204, 206 and isbolted thereto by way of brackets 210, 212. Also mounted on brackets210, 212 are slide bars supports 214, 216. Spaced, parallel slide bars218, 220 extend between supports 214, 216. A sliding member 222 slidesback and forth (Directions P) on the bars 218, 219. The rotary member186 has an axle 196 which fits through hole 224 in block 222 and slideswithin slot 226 in plate 208. Thus, the cam follower 200 has acontinuous control over the rotary position of member 186 and,therefore, the width of the mandrel 150 throughout the entire excursion(Direction N). FIG. 11A shows a cam track into which the cam follower200 fits. The cam track controls the width of the mandrel tray 150 as ittravels through the automatic packaging machines. This cam track isexplained in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,573, which shows thetrack sections W1, W2 making the mandrel wider and track sections N1, N2making the mandrel narrower.

FIG. 12 includes six stop motion views showing the operation or workcycle of the inventive system. FIGS. 12A shows the upper and lower bins50, 52 with the side plates 54-60 being adjusted in directions B-I toprovide a bin width selected to receive and preposition a particularsize of pouch.

FIG. 12B shows that the pouch 42 (FIGS. 1, 2) has been deposited inupper bin 50 and is supported by bottom bin blades 62, 64. One or anysuitable number of pouches may be accumulated for inclusion in a box. Ifonly one pouch is deposited in a box, some of the steps shown here maybe omitted.

FIG. 12C shows an exemplary case where two pouches, which are to beplaced in a single box, are accumulated in upper bin 50. Thus, a secondpouch 44 is placed in upper bin 50. To provide a specific example, pouch42 might be a pouch of rice and pouch 44 might be a pouch of chop suey,both of which may be placed in the same box and then frozen. Also, thesystem may be programmed to accumulate pouches in either the upper orlower bins 50, 52 according to particular packaging needs. As hereshown, by way of example only, the two pouches are initially accumulatedin the upper bin. In another situation, two or more pouches might havebeen initially accumulated in the lower bin 52.

FIG. 12D shows the bottom bin blades 62, 64 have been moved indirections B, E to drop the pouches 42, 44 into lower bin 52, and thenreturned in directions C, D to close the bottom of the bin. The nextincoming pouch 230 has been dropped into upper bin 50. In a relativelywide configuration, mandrel 26a is moving into, but has not yet reached,a loading position. Meanwhile, upper bin bottom blades 62, 64 have movedback in directions C, D to prepare bin 50 for the next drop. The sensors38, 40 (FIG. 2) release the next pouch 230 on conveyor 46 for deliveringa pouch on demand to upper bin 50.

FIG. 12E shows the wide mandrel 26a directly under the lower bin 52. Thelower bin bottom blades 66, 68 move outwardly in directions F, I to droppouches 44, 42 into the wide mandrel 26a.

FIG. 12F shows that the bottom plates 66, 68 have returned indirections. G, H while mandrel 26a is taking pouches 44, 42 to a workstation where they will be deposited into a box. At this time, mandrel26a is becoming more narrow, shaping and pushing the pouches 44, 42 intoa configuration where they will fit into the box. The next mandrel 26bis moving into position to receive the next pouches. The two bins havereturned to the step in the work cycle, that is also shown in FIG. 12C.

The blades forming the bottoms of the bins may be given an oscillatingmotion in order to shake a product out of the bin if it has acharacteristic which makes it hard to unload.

The bins 50, 52 may be mounted to move a short distance over the mandrel26 as it moves, returning to a start position before attempting todeposit a pouch in the next following mandrel.

It should be noted from FIGS. 12D and 12E that the lower bin 52 providesa time buffer for enabling the mandrel 26 to be positioned. Thus, theloader may asynchronously load into upper bin 50 while the mandrels ofthe automatic packaging machine receive product from bin 52 at itstiming. These two timings do not have to be synchronized.

Those who are skilled in the art will readily perceive how to modify theinvention. Therefore, the appended claims are to be construed to coverall equivalent structures which fall within the true scope and spirit ofthe invention.

The claimed invention is:
 1. A process of preconditioning and loadingproduct in an automatic packaging machine, said method comprising thesteps of:(a) transporting a plurality of mandrels around a path whichpasses at least two work stations; (b) making said mandrel relativelywide at one work station; (c) making said mandrel relatively narrow atanother work station; (d) shaping product by adjusting the width of saidmandrel between said one and other work stations; and (e) repeatedlyadjusting the mandrel through cycles of wide and narrow configurationsin order to condition product during said transporting of said mandrelsaround said path.
 2. The process of claim 1 wherein step (b) includesdepositing product in said mandrel.
 3. The process of claim 1 whereinstep (c) includes thrusting said product into a container.
 4. Anautomatic packaging machine having an endless conveyor for transportingparts along an established path, said parts having a variableconfiguration, and means for changing said configuration as a functionof an instantaneous position of said parts as they move along saidestablished path; at least one cam track in at least one position alongsaid established path for programming and controlling said changing ofsaid configuration, wherein said programmed configurations of saidvariable configuration parts condition product.